Father-daughter incest not is only the type of incest most often reported, it also represents a paradigm of female sexual victimization. The preponderance of data also suggest that any child's sexual contact with an adult, especially a trusted relative, is a significant trauma that may have long-lasting deleterious effects. Traditional psychiatric literature holds the mother responsible or complicit in the incest. However, even by patriarchal standards, the mother in the incestuous family is unusually oppressed. Incest survivors report that their families were conventional to a fault, their fathers were perfect patriarchs, the families adhered rigidly to the traditional sexual division of labor, mothers and daughters were isolated from the outside world, and fathers tended to use force to dominate their families. The mothers were often unable to fulfill their traditional roles due to depression, alcoholism, or psychosis; the daughters were alienated from their mothers. The daughters averaged 9 years of age when their fathers first approached them sexually. In no case was the incestuous relationship ended by the father; the daughters put a stop to the sexual contact as soon as they could. Findings suggested that preventive education should begin early in grade school and that incest and other abuses will continue as long as fathers retain their authoritarian role. 9 references